Sign Dictionary Orders

[Charles Butler]

I guess, for me, I would consider all of the spellings correct.  It depends
upon what "section" of the dictionary you would be looking in.

If one were to start with the "handshape section" then you'd start with
handshapes.

If one were to start with the "movement section" then one would start with
movements.

If one were to start with the "contact" section, one would start with the
contacts.

I feel that ALL of them are equally valid, and a complete dictionary would
list all four, depending on the section.

Starting at the beginning of the SSS is the handshape dictionary, so you
start there, go through all of the single handshapes, single hands that
change shape, then double handshapes.

The next section, movement, you'd start at movement, but then you'd have to
go back to the handshapes and do them in order of SSS, etc.

For me, a complete dictionary using SSS should list all four variants, as
each "section" is independent of all the others, but someone may want to
find any sign using any one of its components.

It's kind of like commutative arithmetic.  2 + 1 + 3 = 6, but so does 1 + 2
+ 3, and so does 3 + 2 + 1.  All three equations are correct, but one can
order them by which number comes first.  The SSS does exactly that.  Which
"section" is first is the choice of the investigator, but if all of us are
going to use the dictionary, we have to explain our logic to each other.

Charles